My father was a home builder and
later a home appraiser. My mother was a medical technologist. From them I believe I
absorbed the traits of construction, evaluation and intellection about what can’t be
seen.
All my life I have had aural responses to sensory stimuli—sight, sound, smell, taste,
touch, movement, etc. For whatever reason, things that I sense engender how might it
sound. Conversely, things that I auralize I attempt to visualize through score notation
with the hope that I might evoke the other senses. This dialogue between the faculties
is a constant activity for me.
I also enjoy working on puzzles and problems. The making and solving of them are
activities I find engaging. There is not only the challenge but the hunt for its
solution.
Given these inclinations—the process of transmuting senses into sound and executing
plans to do so—it seemed natural that I would pursue music composition or what might
be thought of as sonic alchemy.
Alchemy, of course, involves the transmutation of one thing into another. The ninth
and final school of magic is transmutation. It is among the most popular and useful of
all of the schools, allowing a mage to manipulate time and space. In musical
composition the composer does the same thing and often the process is seemingly
magical.
A concluding anecdote: I remember vividly being asked by a passenger I had just met
on a plane “What do you do?” I replied “I’m a musician.” And they said “Really? Show me
one of your tricks.” I said “No not a magician—a musician!” After the initial humor of
the incident I thought to myself “don’t magicians and musicians manipulate time and
space? Is a composer a conjurer?” Hmm.. We definitely create our pieces out of thin air
and hope the magic of sound will cast a spell over our audience.